Biography - Rev. George M. & Lillian C. Irwin

Rev. George M. Irwin and his wife, Dr. Lillian C. Irwin, arrived in Juneau in 1900 from Oregon, where he was said to have been Superintendent of Public Instruction. He was to take charge of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Juneau but he also conducted services in the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches. Early in 1901 he purchased the weekly Alaska Record Miner, edited it for several months, then sold it to John W. Frame. In 1902 the Rev. Irwin was appointed U.S. Commissioner at Douglas. His wife, Dr. Irwin, practiced medicine in Juneau. They acquired a tract of land adjacent to Gold Street and above Irwin Street and in 1913 this was platted and became a part of the city as the Irwin Addition. In the meanwhile, the Irwins had moved to Seattle where the Rev. Irwin died on August 23, 1911. In 1915 Dr. Irwin was a candidate for the School Board in Seattle. In 1916 she sold a part of the Irwin Addition to the Marconi Wireless Company which built a station there. The station was subsequently taken over by the Navy and then by the Army Signal Corps.

Irwin Street - in the northwestern part of Juneau, forming an extension of Calhoun Avenue from the Upper Gold Creek bridge, traversing Evergreen Cemetery and reaching the beach at the Boat Harbor. It was first known as a part of Calhoun Road and in a 1908 plat was labeled "wagon road to the Bar." It appears to have been named for either the Rev. George M. Irwin or for his wife, Dr. Lillian C. Irwin, who owned property in that area and deeded a portion o it to the city for cemetery and street purposes.

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